There's several reasons why people are going so nuts for this
bike. The great design of
the bike. The very low cost of the bike. The amazing story of
bike's creator. The pledge that the bike company will support
charity. The fact that the bike creator hiredcrowdfunding
marketing expert Chris Olenikto help orchestrate the campaign and they
very smartly did a big demo day with the tech press and potential
sponsors.

Design

This bike is a beach cruiser with a motor, with big fat tires
that make for a comfy ride. It's got a 350-watt motor, a promised
range of 30 to 50 miles on a charge, or about 90 minutes, and it
weighs 55 pounds.

"It’s the 1987 Honda Civic of electric bikes, stripped down to
the basics. There’s no regenerative braking, or a fancy housing
to disguise the massive batteries," writes
TechCrunch's Kyle Russel.

Price

"Under $600."

You can't beat that with a stick. That's about what you'd pay for
a decent commuter bike, without the motor. Of course, you need a
motor to get a 55-pound bike up a a steep hill in addition to
pedaling with our legs (we're looking at you, San Francisco).

In truth, the bike won't be that cheap after the fund raising
campaign ends. It's makers say they think it will cost
about $1,300, and you can definitely buy other eBikes for
that price.

The story

After the bike's creator, surfer dude Storm Sondors, got injured
in an accident, he wanted a stylish beach cruiser that he could
still ride around even though he couldn't pedal very well. He was
a designer/manufacturer for McDonald's Happy Meal toys. So he
designed the bike he wanted, worked his Asian toy manufacturing
contacts to source materials and hooked up with co-founder Jon
Hopp to make it all happen.

Already giving back

"With the amazing outpouring of support over the past few days,
we now have the opportunity to do some great things. We would like to align ourselves with a few charities that
help people get to and from where they need to go. Do you guys
have any ideas of some great ones? Possibly a Veteran’s
organization, as we have had many comments about how the eBike
could help them out."

Tons of interest

In addition to the demo day with journalists in the Bay Area,
they also held one in Santa Monica (the company is based in
Southern California).

"There has been a lot of speculation about the bike over the past
few days and we want to assure you that it is real, it exists and
it is quality,"
the co-founders promised on Indiegogo. The event immediately
sold out, so they are planning more events in other Southern
California cities.